Silverstone victories for Toyota and Porsche

Reigning WEC champions Toyota Gazoo Racing took a commanding victory at the first round of the 2019/2020 FIA World Endurance Championship at Silverstone. In GTE Pro, Porsche prevailed on the debut of the new 911 RSR-19 after a race-long battle with Ferrari and Aston Martin.

Despite a smaller gap to the LMP1 privateer
teams, Toyota Gazoo Racing failed to put a foot wrong at the opening race of
the 2019/2020 season to secure the overall victory. The #7 TS050 Hybrid of
Conway, Kobayashi and Lopez converted pole position into the race win, with the
sister #8 car close behind.

Third position went to the #3 Rebellion
Racing car, which was battling at the front of the field at times after
inclement weather swept across Silverstone Circuit at around the halfway point.

Ginetta marked its comeback to the FIA
World Endurance Championship with Team LNT with a solid fourth-place finish –
inherited after problems befell the full-season #1 Rebellion entry with just 15
minutes of the race remaining. The #5 car of Charlie Roberton, Ben Hanley and
Egor Orudzhev suffered some issues of its own and finished around 5 laps down
on the leaders.

GTE Pro evenly matched

What the GTE Pro field now lacks in quantity
it most certainly makes up for in quality, with the three manufacturers
evidently very evenly matched. Ferrari had started the race as slight
favourites after locking out the front row, but it was Porsche who ultimately
took the one-two finish in its new-for-2019 car.

The #71 AF Corse machine was involved in
the only serious incident of the race, colliding with Oliver Jarvis in the #6
Team LNT Ginetta at Maggotts and into retirement. The class remained extremely
tight right up to the chequered flag, with just 16 seconds separating the top
four at the finish line.

Third position went to Alex Lynn and Maxime
Martin in the Aston Martin Vantage AMR, with pole-sitters James Calado and
Alessandro Pier Guidi a disappointing fourth.

Debut win for Cool Racing

Cool Racing crowned its maiden appearance
in the FIA WEC with a surprise victory in the LMP2 class. Pole-sitter United Autosports
came to a standstill after just two laps with an electrical issue, with Racing
Team Nederland inheriting the lead. However, a pit-stop penalty and a safety
car period for the #71 incident eliminated the #29 car’s lead, handing the
advantage to the #42 Cool Racing Oreca.

The win was all the more impressive given
that the team were down to just two drivers. Alexandre Coigny was not cleared
to race after a serious accident during the previous day’s European Le Mans
Series race, meaning that debutant Antonin Borga and two-time LMP2 drivers’
champion Nicolas Lapierre had to complete the race as a pair.

Wheel-to-wheel racing in GTE Am

The most excitement at Silverstone was
provided by the GTE Am class. The battle for the lead continued unabated for
almost the entire race, with any mistakes punished severely. Reigning champions
Project 1 spent much of the race at the head of the field fighting with the
pole-sitting #90 TF Sport crew, however contact between the two cost both a
chance of victory.

The #83 AF Corse team were the beneficiaries of the other cars’ misfortunes, securing the first win of the season at the first try. The #98 Aston Martin and #70 MR Racing crews rounded out the top three.

Memory lane

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